Aftermath aka Loose Lips Sink Ships
by Politics.and.Prose
Summary: Based on the preview for Tuesday and then wandering off into Sma!World. Rachel kissed more than just Blaine at the party and Finn doesn't like it. Not at all. T for language.


Finn stared at his brother as he stomped into the house and threw his overnight bag on the floor. Kurt never really threw temper tantrums and this looked like it was revving up to be one to rival the ones Rachel used to throw. "Sup, dude? I thought you were at the sleepover party or whatever."

"Don't talk to me about that … that …_hussy_!" Kurt spat as he headed for the stairs.

"Hussy?" Finn asked with an arched brow. "We're talking about Rachel _Berry_, right? I think she'd probably be the furthest thing from a hussy in school."

"Yeah? She kissed Blaine tonight. _Made out_ with him. In front of me. Literally. In front of my face. _Leaning over me_, Finn. She …" he threw his arms up in frustration. "What is with her? What, she can't have _you_ so she takes _my_ leading man? This is ridiculous. He's _gay_."

"So wait. Rachel. M-, uh, Rachel Berry, kissed a gay dude?"

"Not just _any_ 'gay dude', Finn, but the guy I've been half in love with since before I ever transferred to Dalton." Kurt made his way into the living room and dropped onto the couch, his right hand dramatically draped over his forehead. "I thought we were friends."

"How the hell did it even happen?"

Kurt sighed and lifted his head to look up at his brother. "Well, we were all drinking …"

"You were _drinking_?" Finn asked, eyes wide.

"Puckerman and Santana supplied the booze," Kurt defended. "It's not like we raided raided the liquor cabinets or anything. Anyway, we were drinking and Rachel," he paused and cleared his throat, "Rachel suggested a game of Spin the Bottle."

Finn sighed in relief and released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Spin the Bottle," he grinned. "Right. It's a game, dude. It's, like, the rules."

"I understand the rules of the game, Finn," Kurt replied haughtily. "And that would be all well and good if their first kiss didn't last a bit too long," he added as he stood and made his way to the stairs.

Finn stood where he was for a second, brow furrowed in confusion. "Kurt, wait," he called as he turned to face his brother. "Did you say _first_ kiss? As in more than one kiss happened?"

Kurt nodded, a frown stretched across his lips. "At least three," the smaller boy confirmed as he started up the stairs. "I left after that."

"Were they all during Spin the Bottle?" Finn asked a little desperately.

Kurt paused at the top of the stairs. He knew he should tell his brother that it was none of his business who Rachel was kissing, but he couldn't bring himself to. Truth be told, he was angry, hurt and upset over what had happened (was still happening?) at Rachel's house. "No," he responded without turning around to face his brother. He knew, even without seeing, that Finn's face fell.

Finn heard him take a deep, shuddering breath before he continued down the hall to his room. He would have preferred to hear the door slam rather than it softly closing and the quiet snick of the lock.

* * *

"What the hell, man?" Finn shouted as he approached Puck in the hallway on Monday morning. "Seriously, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I can explain!" the other boy shouted, eyes wide, as he turned to his friend. "First, remember you're not dating her anymore. So, you know, it's not like she cheated. Second, it was only once. Third, it was during Spin the Bottle. Fourth, she a really awesome fucking kisser and you're a dumbass for ever letting her go. Uh, number after that, I blame it on the alcohol."

"Wait. You kissed her too?"

"I'm pretty sure all the guys there kissed her at least once. Except Hummel. He took off early. You know why?"

"So it was just a game thing then?" Finn asked.

Puck rolled his eyes and sighed. He opened his mouth to answer but stopped, puffed out his cheeks and expelled the air. "Okay. Here's the thing. When me and the other dude kissed her, yeah, it was mostly just the game. And the first time Blake kissed her …"

"Blaine …"

"Whatever. The first time they kissed it was because she spun the bottle and it landed on him. After that?" he shrugged. "Dude kisses chicks like a champ. I won't lie," Puck said seriously. "If I didn't make that promise to you and I wasn't into Lauren Zizes, I would have been all over drunk Rachel."

"That would've been a dick move," Finn pointed out.

"I know, dude," Puck said seriously. "I won't lie, though. I thought about it."

"Can we … I mean, was she into it? With Blaine, I mean. Was she into it with Blaine?"

"Do you want the answer you wanna hear or the truth?"

That was answer enough for Finn.

* * *

"Hey, Tina, can I talk to you for a minute?" Finn asked as he approached his friend in the hallway.

"Sure," she replied. "Hey, we missed you at Rachel's this weekend. Where were you? Oh," she said immediately. "With Quinn, right? I heard you two were on again."

"No, I was at home. You heard I was on again with Quinn? Who, uh, who told you that?"

"Not sure whether it was Sam or Rachel. People kinda blurred together this weekend," she chuckled. "Good for you, though. You and Rachel being broken up and Quinn and Sam being broken up. It's only natural for you and Quinn to get back together."

"We're not back together," Finn insisted.

Tina laughed again and pulled out her cell phone. "Yeah. Okay. What did you wanna talk about?"

"Rachel and Blaine."

Tina laughed again. "Hard to believe Rachel turned a guy straight, right?" She glanced at her phone. "Gotta go," she told him as she took off down the hall typing away on her cell.

* * *

"Hey, Artie. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, Finn," Artie said as he placed his books on his lap and headed down the hall. "What's on your mind?"

"The party at Rachel's."

"That was off the hook, yo," he said as he raised his hand and waved it a little. "We all thought that it was gonna be a train wreck since it was, you know, Rachwl. But _damn_ that girl knows how to par-_tay_."

"So I heard," Finn muttered. "Listen, is it true all the guys kissed Rachel?"

Artie's eyes darted down the hallway to where Puck was trying to chat up Lauren again. "Some more than others."

Finn furrowed his brow and looked at Artie before following the other boy's line of sight. "You mean Puck?"

Artie chuckled. "I really don't know what it is about her but damn if she doesn't make him act a fool."

"I thought he was all into Lauren Zizes or whatever," Finn said as he adjusted his backpack and stopped outside Artie's pre-calc class.

Artie shrugged. "Guess she's still playing too hard to get. But, hey, guess it's a good thing you and Quinn weren't at the party. Would have been kind of awkward."

"Why?" Finn asked.

"With you dating Quinn and all."

"I'm not dating Quinn," Finn started but at that moment Puck and Sam passed by Artie and Finn. "Puck!" he shouted, mouth set in an angry frown.

Puck took one look at Finn then glanced at Artie. "Fuck you, Abrams. That shit's cold."

Artie simply chuckled and wheeled himself into the classroom.

Finn opened his mouth to speak but at the same moment the warning bell rang. "Sorry, dude," Puck said. "Gotta go to class." He shoved at Sam to start moving and added a half-hearted. "Later!" over his shoulder.

"This isn't over, Puckerman!" Finn yelled in response before making his way to his own class.

* * *

Finn spotted Mercedes in the cafeteria. She was sitting with Mike, Tina and Brittany. He figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Three birds. Whatever.

"Hey, guys!" he said brightly as he sat down.

"Oh no," Mercedes said loudly and seriously as he pulled out his lunch. "You ain't comin' in here to start more Rachel drama. I've got enough to deal with tryin' to get Kurt to talk to her. I don't need you throwin' in your two cents too."

"Kurt won't talk to her?" Finn asked. "Like, at all?"

"Second guy she's stolen from him," Mike said with a shrug. "Kurt may be a guy but he has, like, girl feelings or something."

"I like feeling girls," Brittany said as she stared into her slushie.

"That was pretty insensitive," Tina said to Mike with a scowl as if Brittany hadn't spoken at all.

"No. I get what he's saying. But, uh, "Finn asked as he scratched the side of his nose, "who's the other guy? I mean, I know there's Blaine. But, uh, who's the other?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Mercedes said under her breath. She turned to Tina. "Did he just ask that?"

"I think he did," the other girl answered.

"You, dude," Mike responded before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"He's, like, my brother now or something," Finn replied, 'I'm officially grossed out' written all over his face. "That's nasty."

"_Before_ you were brothers," Mercedes said as she rolled her eyes. "Hell, before you and Rachel got together for real."

"S'a good thing Puck was there this weekend," Mike chimed in as he shoved his trash into his brown lunch bag and stood up.

"Why?" Finn asked in confusion.

"He was the one who stopped Rachel from going up to her room with that Blaine dude. Gotta go. Workin' on some choreography. Britt?" he added before pecking Tina on the lips, shouldering his bag and ushering Brittany from the cafeteria.

Finn turned back to the girls but they were already having a whole other conversation. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore so he stood and walked from the cafeteria, not bothering to either take his lunch with him or throw it out.

_Rachel was going to go to her room with that Blaine kid_, he thought to himself. _She shouldn't be taking _any_ guys to her room_.

He needed more information. He needed to find Puck again. And fast.

* * *

He couldn't find Puck but he did find Santana and he figured she was the next best thing. She honestly didn't know how to keep her mouth shut and he was pretty sure Rachel was her favorite gossip target (though he didn't know why). It was pretty win-win for him right now. (He would find Puck and take care of _that_ conversation later.)

"Tell me about the party," Finn said as he walked up behind the ex-Cheerio. "I want to know everything."

"No you don't," she answered seriously.

"Fine. Tell me about Rachel and the guys."

Santana shook her head. "First, really not my story to tell. Second, if you had come to the party and not sat at home like a whiney bitch, you wouldn't need to get your info second hand. And third, she's not your fricken girlfriend anymore so you don't get to ask these questions and expect us all to answer them."

"Since when do _you_ stand up for Rachel?"

"She's a good kisser," Santana shrugged as she shut her locker.

"_You_ kissed her too?" Finn asked, eyes wide with shock.

And then a picture popped into his head. He wasn't proud of it but it wasn't like he had any power to stop it. He was back in that hotel room with Santana. But it wasn't just them. Rachel was there, dressed just like Santana, and giving him this _look_. (He wanted to see that look for real.) Then Santana crooked her finger at Rachel and the smaller girl went. They wrapped their arms around each other and came together for a kiss. A really _hot_ kiss. He saw two tongues.

"No, but my boyfriend did," Santana answered. "And he was all hot and bothered and standing at attention so I'm sure she's a pretty fricken awesome kisser."

"She is," Finn said as he shook his head to attempt to rid himself of the (totally hot) vision of Rachel and Santana making out.

"And _why_ did you break up with her?"

"She cheated with Puck."

Santana arched a brow. "Pot and kettle, Finnocence." At his confused look, she scoffed and rolled her eyes but continued. "Don't forget you did the same thing to Q the first time around and then _encouraged_ her to do it to Sam this time around." She arched a brow, pursed her lips and crossed her arms, her eyes asking 'and you witty retort is?'.

"Quinn cheated with Puck too."

"You five are really fucked up," she told him seriously. "Like, _really_ fucked up."

Finn was about to respond but her thought he saw Puck so he walked away from Santana and down the hall to where he thought he saw his best friend before he got away again.

Turned out it wasn't Puck but some overeager freshman who wanted to _be _Puck. (Finn told him it was a waste of time because there was only one Puck and the world was a lot better off that way. Kid was unimpressed.)

Sighing in defeat, Finn made his way to chemistry. He took his typical seat beside Brittany. "Hey, Britt."

"Hi," she said shortly, her tone clipped and her lips pressing tightly together when she was done.

Finn furrowed his brow and turned to look at his blonde friend. "You okay?" he asked. It wasn't like Brittany to act irritated towards anyone.

"No," she pouted. "Rachel didn't kiss me. She was too busy kissing Blaine and then Puck," she continued. "And it wasn't fair."

"Wait. You _want_ to make out with Rachel?"

"She's hot,' Brittany defended. "And she looked really good at it. I mean, no way a gay guy would keep trying to kiss her unless she was awesome. I should know 'cuz I've kissed lots of gay guys."

"Right. So Puck kissed Rachel _after_ Blaine?"

"Puck didn't kiss Blaine. Though that would've been totally hot."

"No. Finn said in frustration. "Did Puck kiss Rachel after Blaine kissed Rachel?"

"Uh huh," Brittany answered as she began to doodle in her notebook.

"Mr. Hudson. Ms. Pierce. Please pay attention," Mr. Brennan said sternly. (Well, as sternly as he could with a wide smile on his face.)

"Sorry, Mr. B," Finn muttered in embarrassment.

"I think Puck wants to sleep with Rachel," Brittany whispered.

_It was like getting stabbed with two knives_, Finn though. _One in the gut and one in the back_.

* * *

Finn approached Lauren with a grin.

"No," she said to him before he opened his mouth. "I'm not telling you anything. If you weren't so busy chasing Lima Barbie you could have been there to see it for yourself."

"Aren't you pissed that Puck was making out with Rachel?"

She stared at him for a minute and he couldn't help but feel like she thought he was a huge idiot. "No," she responded. "He's not my boyfriend." She paused and looked over his shoulder. "And you _had_ to know it would always come back to them," she added.

"I didn't," he insisted. "Why-why d'you think it's always going to come back to them?"

"Because I don't think you'll ever understand exactly what you have when you have her," she shrugged.

"What?" Finn asked in confusion, his brow scrunched.

"Just forget it," Lauren said as she shut her locker. "One day you're gonna regret not forgiving her. And you know when that's gonna be?"

"When?" he asked thickly, a slight tremor in his voice.

"Their wedding day," the girl said as she pointed down the hall before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Finn turned to see Rachel standing with her back to her locker, Puck in front of her, on arm braced against the locker above her head.

As much as he needed to confront them he just couldn't bring himself to go over while they were together. So he slung his backpack higher on his shoulder and headed to class.

He would see them both in glee later anyway.

* * *

When he walked into the choir room he was half-surprised to see Puck and Rachel on opposite sides of the rom. Puck, Mike and Artie were jamming and Rachel, Mercedes and Tina were laughing over something the Asian girl was doing on her phone.

It wasn't usually strange to see Rachel and Puck on opposite sides of the room. Unless they were together. When they were together they were _together_ everywhere. It kind of gave Finn some hope to see the distance between them.

"Hey," Quinn said softly as she walked up behind him and placed a gentle hand on his forearm. "You doing okay?"

Finn turned and looked at her before allowing his eyes to dart to Rachel, who had apparently looked up from Tina's phone and was now looking right at him and Quinn. He saw her take a deep breath before turning back to her friends with a wide (fake) smile on her face.

"Fine," he said shortly as he moved to an empty seat in the middle and flopped down into it. When she followed and sat beside him he asked, "How about you? Did you get to talk to him?"

Quinn shook her head sadly. "He went to Rachel's party with Santana."

"You didn't go?"

She shook her head. "Do you really think that _I_ would ever be caught dead at Rachel Berry's house?" she asked seriously. "I mean, it's fine for Santana and Brittany. There was booze. But me? No way."

"Heard it was a pretty good time."

"I heard that Rachel made out with all the guys, including the guy Kurt's into, and then had Puck spend the night. And I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep on the couch, if you get my drift."

He started at her for a minute, brow kinked in concentration, before he slowly shook his head dejectedly. "I don't know what you mean."

"I'm trying to say that, if what I heard is correct, Puck punched Rachel's V-Card on Saturday night." She paused. "And twice on Sunday."

"You're lying," Finn said strongly. "There's no way …"

"Hey, Princess!" Puck called across the room at Rachel. "You still up for that ride after glee?" he asked with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Don't be lewd, Noah," she called back with a giggle.

_So he's Noah again_, Finn thought to himself as his eyes darted between Rachel and Puck. _And he has her giggling._

"Yes or no, babe?"

"Of course," she said as she rolled her eyes. "But remember we have to stop by the pharmacy first."

"Fuck yeah we do," he said with a grin before turning back to his jam session with Mike and Artie.

Finn couldn't take it anymore. "Puckerman. Hallway. Now."

Puck glanced up at his buddy before grinning. "Later, dude. We wanna get this shit worked out before Schue gets here."

"It wasn't a request," the taller boy responded. "So get out there before I _make_ you get out there."

Puck furrowed his brow but placed his guitar on the empty seat next to him and stood. "You're not gonna sucker punch me again, are you?"

"No, you'll definitely see it coming," Finn responded as she shoved open the door to the choir room and stepped into the hallway.

Puck followed after him, shooting a shitty look to everyone in the room but Rachel and Sam, who had come in through the other door and taken his vacated seat. "All you but Evans and Berry suck balls," he told them seriously before heading into the hall and standing in front of Finn. "What's up?"

"You said it was one kiss," Finn said without preamble.

Puck sighed and rolled his eyes. "What's the big deal if it was more than once?" he asked. "I've never hidden the fact that I like kissing. And I kinda like Rachel. But I really like kissing Rachel."

"You said it would never happen again," Finn replied.

Puck furrowed his brow. "I said I would never kiss Rachel again? The fuck did I say that dude?"

"That day at the trophy case. When we kinda talked about how we were best friends before the whole Quinn-baby thing and the kissing Rachel thing. You said it would never happen again."

"Dude," Puck laughed. "I meant that I would never try to steal your girl again. And Rachel's not your girl," he pointed out needlessly. "And do you see me goin' after Q? No. You don't. You know why?" He didn't bother waiting for Finn to answer him. "Because _she's_ your girl now and when I make a fucking promise I stick to it."

"Just tell me how many times you kissed her," Finn all but begged, hands shaking as he tried to stop himself from grabbing his best friend by the shirt. "Just please tell me."

Puck shook his head. "I already did."

"You said once," Finn countered.

"And that's exactly how many times I kissed her."

"How many times did you two kiss on Saturday night?" Finn rephrased.

Puck stared at him for a minute. He shook his head slightly. "Dude, I think you're goin' deaf or some shit. I already told you. Once. O-n-e time, dude."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you wanna play the jealous boyfriend," Puck answered honestly. "And it's cool or whatever, but you keep forgetting one little thing. You're not her boyfriend anymore. And if she wants to kiss gay guys or bad boys or every fucking dude in this school, she has the goddamn right to do it. So back the fuck off and go back to Quinn."

"I'm not _with_ Quinn," Finn insisted for what felt like the millionth time that day. "We just …"

"Hey, it's cool," Puck said as he held his hands up. "I don't need to know what you did with her or what you _wanna_ do with her. I just need you to know that me and Rachel only kissed once and if we _did_ kiss more than that – which we _didn't_ – you have no right to be pissed off about it. Okay?" Puck didn't wait for an answer before stepping around his friend and back into the choir room.

_This is ridiculous_, Finn thought. _Either Puck is lying or everyone else is._ He stepped back into the room and saw his friend sitting with all of the guys on one side of the room and the girls all huddled together on the other. _I need to talk to Rachel to find out the truth. She could never lie to me anyway_.

"Hey, guys," Mr. Schue said as he walked into the choir room. "Everyone have a god weekend? I heard Rachel had a party."

Rachel turned bright pink and hid her face in her hands. "Can we _please_ forget about that? Or at least not talk about it?"

"Sure," Mr. Schue laughed. "Let's talk about Regionals. We already have one song. Now we need another. _Sing_ is great as a group number but we need to get down to duets or solos. Finn or Rachel, any ideas?"

Rachel simply shook her head and pulled out her notebook. Finn furrowed his brow, wondering if she was actually working on the original song that she had suggested the week before. "Uh, maybe a love song as a duet?" he suggested almost timidly.

"Why, so you and Quinn can stand in front of everyone and have music sex or whatever?" Santana asked sarcastically. "No way."

"What about something for Mercedes and Artie?" Rachel asked from her seat, eyes still on her notebook. "Their voices blend wonderfully and if it's something with a strong enough beat then Tina, Mike and Brittany can perform a strong dance number to go along with it. Their dancing certain was what helped us win Sectionals. Well, tie Sectionals. And that was just Mike and Brittany. Add Tina in there and there's no way it won't be amazing."

"And then you want the solo, right?" Quinn scoffed.

"On the contrary, I think we did well at Sectionals with me only singing backup and harmonizing. We need to be different. They _expect_ me. So we won't give me to them."

"She's finally cracked," Puck said a moment or so after the room lapsed into silence. "Kissing that gay dude broke her."

"Shut it, Puckerman!" Rachel shouted at him.

"I think Rachel and I should do _Need You Now_," he shrugged.

"That's not really an anthem," Tina pointed out. "It was pretty kick-ass," she added when he shot her a dirty look, "but it won't win us Regionals."

"Lauren? You've been pretty quiet. Any input?" Mr. Schue asked the newest member of the group.

"Not really," she said flatly. "We just need to figure out two more songs that go with _Sing_, I guess. Since that's what we've picked."

"Strong songs," Mercedes amended.

"Something epic," Tina agreed.

Finn shot his eyes to Rachel, who was furiously writing in her notebook now. He grinned slightly to himself. It looked like she had an idea and it was just flowing from her brilliant musical brain to her pencil to the page. He honestly couldn't wait to hear what she came up with.

"Rachel?" Mr. Schue asked. "Do you have _any_ ideas for anthems? If anyone knows music it's you."

"While I appreciate the vote of confidence, Mr. Schuester, as of this moment I am still unable to think of any other anthems that will mesh nicely with the club's selection from My Chemical Romance," she told him. "Perhaps we should look to someone like Bruce Springsteen. _Working on a Dream _would be a good song for Sam and Noah. Or maybe _Growin' Up_ for Noah, Sam or Finn. No offence," she added as she turned to Artie and Mike.

Puck's eyes widened as he looked over to Rachel. "Marry me."

Finn ignored the look Lauren shot him.

"No," she responded as she went back to writing in her notebook.

Mr. Schue nodded and jotted down the names of the songs. "Good. Why don't you guys work on some brain-storming for choreography for _Sing_ because I don't think just running around the stage is going to do it for us."

"Yeah," Mercedes added. "We did it last year and look where it got us."

The group broke off into smaller groups to start planning for the songs, but Rachel just sat where she was, nose buried in her notebook, pencil scribbling away as fast as her small hand could make it.

* * *

After glee club was over, everyone but Rachel seemed to rush out of the room. She had quickly glanced up and told Puck she didn't need that ride and he shrugged and left without her.

Finn figured if all went well he could drive her home.

If things didn't go well, he could always call Puck and tell him Rachel _did_ need the ride. In his car not on his …

_Focus_.

"Whatcha workin' on?" he asked as he moved closer to Rachel, eyes trying to sneak a peek at what was written on the pages of her spiral notebook."

"That thing we talked about last week," she told him as her eyes glanced up to see where Mr. Schuester was sitting in his office, phone held to his ear.

"Looks like you've got a lot done."

"It was a very productive weekend," she told him happily. "Once I got started I just couldn't stop."

"So I heard," he muttered to himself. "You know," he added, loud enough for her to hear him, "I'm kinda surprised you had any time to work on the song at all, what with all your _activities_ this weekend and everything."

"You mean my dance class?" she asked in confusion. "Because it's only a three hour class."

"I meant the party and the … after party."

"Oh," she said as she blushed brightly. "I'll admit that the whole party was Noah's idea," she told him. "He pretty much acknowledged what he wanted was a place to have sex and get drunk. And that he didn't particularly care which order that happened in."

"So I heard," he said angrily. "You're kissing random guys now?"

"It was Spin the Bottle," she scoffed. "Everyone kissed everyone."

"Some more than others, I heard," he shot back. "Exactly how many times did you kiss the guy Kurt likes?"

"Blaine? Oh God," she muttered, her hands moving up to hide her face. "You _heard_ about that?"

"I live with Kurt, Rachel," Finn said pissily. "He left your party early because you kept kissing the guy he liked."

"It was three times," she said as she shook her head. "And each time it was because the bottle pointed to one of us. Admittedly Spin the Bottle probably wasn't the best idea …"

"You think?" he asked sarcastically.

She shot him a dirty look but continued, "But what does it matter? I'm trying to get Kurt to talk to me so he knows it meant _nothing_ regardless of what Blaine felt. Because I didn't feel anything. Seriously," she added. "I was numb from the alcohol."

"What about Puck?" he asked.

"What about him?"

"How many times did you kiss _him_?"

"So _that's_ what this is about?" she asked with a snort. "It's about me kissing Noah?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You're being ridiculous."

"Am I?" he asked. "Because _you're_ being secretive. And we don't keep secrets from each other."

"We don't?" she asked angrily as she closed her notebook and put it inside her bag before standing up. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah!" he responded. "You and I have never been that couple; the couple who lies and keeps secrets. _Never_."

"Never?"

"_Never_," he enunciated.

"Then why did I have to find out in the middle of glee that you had sex with Santana? _From Santana_?"

When he didn't have a good answer, she shook her head and shouldered her bag. "That's what I thought," she said almost sadly, but with an overtone of anger and hurt, as she climbed from the second row and headed straight out the door.

Finn couldn't do anything but watch her walk away.

* * *

He drove around for about thirty minutes after leaving the school before he gave up and drove to Rachel's house. True, they weren't together and true, he had no right to demand any answers about her relationship with Puck. Or with Blaine. But goddamnit, he was going to get to the bottom of this whole ridiculous weekend.

He refused to acknowledge the fact that if he had just manned up and gone to her stupid party he wouldn't be driving over to her house at that moment.

When he pulled into her driveway he noticed her car wasn't there but that didn't mean anything. Hiram's green Yaris was parked there and sometimes if Rachel blocked her dads in they would take her car out on errands.

He took a deep, nearly-soothing breath and opened his car door. He got out and quietly shut the door again, his hands shaking slightly. He took a few more deep breaths as he made his way to the door, counted to ten, then knocked hesitantly.

He almost threw up when Leroy opened the door and arched a brow at him. "Mr. Hudson."

"H-hello, Mr. – Mr. Berry. How was your vacation?"

"Is there something I can do for you Finn?" the older man asked with his jaw tense.

"I was wondering if Rachel was here. I'd like to speak – speak with her, if I can."

"I'm sure you're physically able to speak with her, Mr. Hudson. However, I doubt my daughter's inclined to say anything that could even be halfway considered civilized to you at this moment."

"Can I see her anyway?" Finn asked bolder than he felt.

"She's not here," Leroy said. "But I'll let her know you dropped by."

Finn opened his mouth to say something else but was frozen in place when he heard Hiram call, "Tell him we're not angry with him, Leroy!"

"What he said," Leroy nodded. "I don't know where she is, Finn. But I promise I'll tell her you were here."

"Thank you, sir," he said quietly before nodding once and heading back to his car.

He had no idea where Rachel could be so he decided he would just head home and talk to Kurt about the little white lie he told. Finn wouldn't have been so pissed about the Rachel and Blaine kisses if Kurt hadn't told him it was more than just Spin the Bottle.

* * *

He blindly drove home and pulled into his parking spot. He grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat and headed up the walk and into the house. "I'm home. Going upstairs. Be down for dinner in a bit," he called out and headed straight for the stairs. He kicked Kurt's door once, his usual greeting, before heading to his room and opening his own door, his eyes immediately landing on the petite brunette sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Hello, Finn," Rachel said softly. "I was hoping we could talk."

He stepped further into the room and shut the door before turning to her with a nod. "Me too. I – I went to your house and you weren't there."

"I've been here since I left glee."

"Did you work everything out with Kurt?"

She nodded slowly. "I know I hurt him and I don't know that I've completely been forgiven but he knows I hold no romantic feelings for Blaine. And it's unfortunate that Blaine believes he feels something for me and the longer he believes that the more humiliating it'll be for him when he realizes he doesn't."

"I want to talk to you about what happened at the party. It just … it seems so out of character for you …"

"It was alcohol, Finn," she said softly. "It started with one drink and just grew from there. Every time I finished one either Santana or Puck put a new one in my hand." She shrugged and looked down to the floor. "I made mistakes that night," she admitted. "I seem to be doing that a lot recently."

"Rachel."

"No. Please, Finn. Please just let me get this out."

She clenched his jaw and nodded once. He could let her speak and then he would have the opportunity to ask his questions and hopefully get some answers.

"I know that … what happened this weekend … it was put into different context and great over-exaggerated. I don't know all that you heard, but there are a couple of things that Kurt said to me that I feel I need to tell you about. Yes, I kissed Blaine more than once. But it was all during the game. And – and I _did_ kiss Noah. Puck. I kissed him. Once. On the cheek."

"The cheek?" he interrupted.

She nodded. "I couldn't – I couldn't kiss him. Not after he made that promise to you. And though I disagree with the general idea, I know it means a lot to you. And I know that technically it wouldn't matter if I did kiss him because you're with Quinn now and I'm happy for you and you don't love me anymore …"

"Rachel," he tried to interrupt.

"Please, Finn. I just … I couldn't kiss him because regardless of what I've said, I'm still in love with you and I will probably be in love with you, at least a little bit, for the rest of my life. And I know you've moved on and I'm _happy_ that you're happy with Quinn, I really am. And I'm doing my best here, you know? Trying to keep my feelings to myself and – and not be angry that you're with her. Because I am, a little bit, but I know it's not my place because, well, you loved her first."

He wanted to keep quiet and let her continue but he had to set something straight. He knew she wasn't the one who started the rumor but she certainly hadn't done anything to help it die. "I'm not with Quinn," he said seriously. "I wasn't lying when I told you I just had to get it out of my system. We're not together. We're not dating." He paused. "And I wasn't with her the night of your party."

"Y-you're not?" she stuttered out.

"No," he answered honestly. "I mean, yes, I flirt with her. But it's just … I'm not dating her and I don't really want to. You were right about being single right now. I think we _both_ need to be single. At least for a little while."

"And after that?" she asked timidly.

He smiled lopsidedly. "Like I said, I liked the Rachel I saw in the choir room the other day. I like her a lot. She's the girl I fell in love with," he finished with a whispered smile.

"And that you might be able to fall in love with again?" she asked softly, nervously.

"Truth?" he asked.

"Truth," she nodded.

"I never fell out of love with her."

She was about to respond when the door opened and Carole popped her head in. "Finn, dinner. Oh! Rachel!" she claimed with a smile. "I didn't know you were still here. Would you like to stay?" she asked tentatively, her eyes moving over to her son in askance.

"Oh," Rachel said, eyes moving to Finn then back to Carole. "I – I couldn't impose …"

"Stay," Finn said softly. "Please stay."

Rachel turned to look back at Finn, eyes wide and silently asking if he was serious. At his slight nod, she smiled and turned back to Carole. "I would love to."

.**xo**.

**My fildos**, thank you all for the help!


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